Ebro (Catalan: Ebre) is the second largest river in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain) after the Duero river, and the only large peninsular river that drains into the Mediterranean sea. It originates on the southern slope of the Cantabrian mountain range, from where it follows an ESE trajectory with a length of about 930 km and 83,093 km² of basin to the Mediterranean, where it flows forming a wide delta of 500 km².
However, the mean annual flow decreased by approximately 29 percent during the 20th century due to many causes: the construction of dams, the increasing demands for irrigation and the evaporation (higher than the rainfall, due to low rainfall, high sunshine and strong and dry winds) from reservoirs in the river basins. This situation has a direct impact on the deltaic system at the mouth of the river because its hydrological dynamics are mainly controlled by the river discharge.
Traditionally, its birth was established at the deu de Fontibre (from the Latin Fontas Iberi, ‘fountains of the Ebro’), in Cantabria, at an altitude of 880 m. It is currently fixed at the sources of the Híjar river, in the Peña Labra mountain range, in Cantabria, at 1,980 m (43°02′29″N 4°23′30″W / 43.04148333, -4.39154444), since the water that springs up in Fontibre is a source of the Híjar.
It passes five Spanish regions: Cantabria, La Rioja, Navarre, Aragon and Catalonia.
Among others, the Ebro passes through Reinosa, Miranda de Ebro, Haro, Logroño, Calahorra, Alfaro, Tudela, Alagó, Zaragoza, Caspe, Mequinenza reservoir, Faió, Riba-roja d’Ebre, Flix, Ascó, Móra d Ebre, Ginestar, Benifallet, Tivenys, Xerta, Aldover, Tortosa, Amposta, Sant Jaume d’Enveja and Deltebre. As it passed through Catalan-speaking lands, it gave his name to the area called Terres de l’Ebre, united by the language (the type of Catalan language) and the common history structured by the river.
It flows into the Mediterranean Sea in the Ebre Delta Natural Park (Catalonia), which was created in 1983 by the Generalitat de Catalunya, in the municipalities of Deltebre (north bank, in the Baix Ebre region) and Sant Jaume d’Enveja (south bank, in the region of Montsià, all in Tarragona), forming a large delta where the Island of Buda splits the current into two main arms (Gola Nord and de Migjorn). The mouth of the Ebro is precisely called the Goles de l’Ebro. The Ebro delta is the most important wetland in Catalonia and its total area is 7,736 hectares.
In antiquity, the Ebro was used as the dividing line between Roman (north) and Carthaginian (south) expansions after the First Punic War (264–241 BC). When the Roman Republic, fearful of Hannibal’s growing influence in the Iberian Peninsula, made the city of Saguntum (considerably south of the Ebro) a protectorate of Rome, Hannibal viewed the treaty violation as an aggressive action by Rome and used the event as the catalyst to the Second Punic War.
One of the earliest Cistercian monasteries in Spain, Real Monasterio de Nuestra Señora de Rueda (lit. ’Royal’ Monastery of Our Lady of the Wheel), is located on the banks of the Ebro in Aragon. Established in 1202, the edifice survives intact. The monastery is strongly connected to the Ebro, since it used one of the first large waterwheels built for the production of power in Spain. The monastery also diverted flow from the Ebro to create a circulating, hydrological central heating system for its buildings.
The Ebro in 1938 was the starting ground of one of the most famous Republican offensives of the Spanish Civil War. Known as the Battle of the Ebro, the offensive ended in defeat for the Republican forces, although they enjoyed success in its first stages. They were not able to reach their objective of Gandesa.
See also Pyrenees travel guide
See also France travel guide
See also Andorra travel guide
